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The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank established in 2007 by co-founders Michèle Flournoy and Kurt M. Campbell which specializes in U.S. national security issues. CNAS's stated mission is to "develop strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies that promote and protect American interests and values." CNAS focuses on terrorism and irregular warfare, the future of the U.S. military, the emergence of Asia as a global power center, and the national security implications of natural resource consumption. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has called CNAS "an indispensable feature on the Washington landscape." Speaking at the CNAS annual conference in June 2009, U.S. Central Command Commander GEN David Petraeus observed that "CNAS has, in a few short years, established itself as a true force in think tank and policy-making circles"

The Obama administration has hired several CNAS employees for key jobs. Founders Michèle Flournoy and Kurt Campbell currently serve as the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, respectively. In June 2009 The Washington Post suggested, "In the era of Obama...the Center for a New American Security may emerge as Washington's go-to think tank on military affairs." CNAS scholars include John Nagl, David Kilcullen, Andrew Exum, Thomas E. Ricks, Robert D. Kaplan, and Marc Lynch.

CNAS is relatively small, with around 30 employees and a budget under $6 million. Despite its small size, CNAS is influential within the national security policy community, and has been able to “punch above our weight”, according to former CNAS Director of External Relations and now-Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Price Floyd.

In a speech to the United States Military Academy at West Point on February 25, 2011, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates quoted CNAS President John Nagl and Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow Lieutenant General David Barno, USA (Ret.) for their recommendations on improving promotion policies in the military.

CNAS experts have appeared in numerous national media outlets, including but not limited to Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, C-SPAN, NBC, NPR, CNN, and PBS.

Leadership

• Nathaniel C. Fick, Chief Executive Officer
• Richard Fontaine President
• Dr. Kristin M. Lord, Vice President and Director of Studies

Studies

CNAS has released extensive reports on terrorism, irregular warfare, and regional security challenges.

It is the only organization of its kind led by veterans of the current wars. Before joining CNAS, John Nagl served as an active duty officer in both the first Gulf War and in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He then was part the team that wrote FM 3-24, the Army’s counter-insurgency field manual that transformed the way the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were conducted. Since joining CNAS first as a Senior Fellow and then as President, Nagl has continued to delve into counterinsurgency while also publishing papers on other topics, including the need for a permanent corps of Army advisers and strategies for confronting Islamic extremism.

Despite its reputation for being a “counter-insurgency heavy organization”, CNAS’s scope includes broader areas of study such as energy security. In June 2009, CNAS launched a new program, “Natural Security”, headed by Vice President Sharon Burke to tackle the national security implications of natural resource production and use. The program’s concept paper, Natural Security Working Paper, looks at emerging natural resources challenges in key areas of consumption as well as the ways in which these challenges are linked together. The program also publishes a daily blog, Natural Security Blog, hosted on CNAS's website.

CNAS has also staked out terrain in studying the emergence of Asia as a center of global power, particularly with regards to China. One of the main stated goals of CNAS’s Asia-Pacific Security program is to “devise a future path for America’s engagement of China that can expand bilateral cooperation in areas of shared strategic interest and encourage increasing accountability from the Chinese regime”. In addition, CNAS has released reports on the strategic aims of U.S.-North Korean non-proliferation negotiations.

The CNAS U.S.-India Initiative is co-chaired by CNAS Board of Directors members Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State, and Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. The stated goal of the Initiative is to help advance growing bilateral ties in areas of mutual interest, including security, economics, energy and climate change, democracy and human rights. On October 27, 2010 at the White House Press Gaggle on the President's Upcoming Trip to India, the CNAS report Natural Allies: A Blueprint for the Future of U.S.-India Relations was referenced in a reporter's question to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In 2010, the Center developed its Cyber Security project, which is co-chaired by Bob Kahn, the co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocols used to transmit information over the Internet; Vice Admiral John Michael McConnell, USN (Ret.), former Director of National Intelligence; Joseph Nye, Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University; and Peter Schwartz, an internationally renowned futurist and business strategist and member of the CNAS Board of Directors. In February 2011, CNAS Vice President and Director of Studies Kristin Lord and Research Associate Travis Sharp argued in The Hill that "increased federal attention to cyber security makes good sense," but "lawmakers must ensure that the U.S. government does not spend aimlessly on cyber security."

CNAS has suggested that one way to contain future military costs would be to fold heavy army units into the National guard and reserves, but military officials have responded that the governors would rather have light units, that are better suited to their emergency needs.

References

1. Center for a New American Security, About CNAS
2. http://www.state.gov/s/d/2009/129686.htm
3. Center for a New American Security, 'About the Center for a New American Security, 2012.
4. ^ "Carlos Lozada -- Setting Priorities for the Afghan War". The Washington Post. June 7, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2010. Cite error: The named reference "post" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. Ricks, Thomas E. (January 16, 2008). "High-Profile Officer Nagl to Leave Army, Join Think Tank". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
6. Center for a New American Security, Robert Kaplan.
7. Yochi J. Dreazen, Obama dips into think tank for talent, Wall Street Journal, 18 November 2008
8. Spencer Ackerman, Obama's Pentagon-in-waiting 'Obama's Pentagon-in-Waiting', Washington Independent, 10 November 2008.
9. U.S. Department of Defense, "Speech: As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, West Point, NY, 25 February 2011.
10. See, for example, Robert Kaplan 'Oman's Renaissance Man', Foreign Policy, 1 March 2011.
11. "Room for Debate: A Logical, but Difficult, Step". The New York Times. March 22, 2011.
12. Kaplan, Robert D. (February 27, 2011). "Arab democracy and the return of the Mediterranean world". The Washington Post.
13. Kaplan, Robert D. (March 26, 2011). "The Middle East Crisis Has Just Begun". The Wall Street Journal.
14. http://nationalinterest.org/article/america-primed-4892
15. The Daily Show, Thomas Ricks, 10 February 2009.
16. C-SPAN, U.S. Military Intervention in Libya, 23 March 2011.
17. MSNBC, Meet the Press transcripts, 27 March 2011.
18. Tom Gjelten, In Libyan Conflict, is Endgame a Stalemate?, NPR, 24 March 2011.
19. "CNN.com". CNN.
20. Center for a New American Security, United States, Arab Leaders Walk Fine Line as Egypt's Power Center Remains Uncertain, 4 February 2011.
21. http://www.cnas.org/node/130
22. http://www.cnas.org/node/795
23. Center for a New American Security, Asia-Pacific Security
24. Center for a New American Security India Initiative
25. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Press Gaggle on the President's Upcoming Trip to India, 27 October 2010.
26. Center for a New American Security Cyber Security
27. Kristin M. Lord and Travis Sharp, Cyber sanity, The Hill, 25 February 2011.
28. Clark, Colin. "Romney Pledges Defense Boost; Analyst Predicts $1 Trillion in DoD Cuts." AOL Defense, 7 October 2011.

External links

• Center for a New American Security (CNAS)

• Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States
• Organizations established in 2007
• Organizations based in Washington, D.C.